Conventionally, web portals, which provide access to a variety of applications and content through a single location, have become an increasingly popular means for delivering applications and information. Whereas previously, web portals were used to deliver a relatively limited amount of functionality, they have become an increasingly popular means for delivering functional applications to local and global communities.
While many applications have been developed that can be presented on pages in a web portal, (these applications are sometimes referred to as portlets) an ongoing concern is that these applications often require a support framework that can be difficult to install and set up. Various mechanisms have been proposed to address this issue. The Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) standard from the Oasis Group establishes a framework whereby applications can be presented on a page without the need for a support apparatus for the application on the server delivering the page.
However, conventional implementations of WSRP are limited in their ability to configure complex applications, and often require that applications be configured on a per-application basis. Such manual configuration approaches can become time consuming and difficult to implement. Additionally, conventional implementations do not include any easy mechanism for accessing static content, such as a web page on which an application might reside.
What is needed is an improved method of utilizing remote applications and their associated content.